We need more hackers
A lot of people think of hackers as geeky computer nerds with asma who live in their parents basement and spread computer viruses, I don’t see it that way, hackers are innovators, hackers are people that challenge and change the systems to make them work differently, to make them work better, being a hacker is more of a mindset. Im growing up in a world that needs more people with the hacker mindset and not just for technology, everything out there is up for being hacked, our health system, the way we connect, our popularity, even advertising or even education.
The first reaction from people when I say that I’m twenty is telling me: “Oh man, when I was your age I was just bored in my bed all day…” but the second reaction is asking me “Why are you still in college? You don’t need it anymore…” and it is because five years from now, I hacked the school system, when I was just in High School, I learned my way into programing websites, then onto mobile devices then, hardware, and every single thing that I’ve learned I owe it to the internet and to curiosity, my unnerving desire to seek after knowledge, desire to experiment, and my lack of fear to failure.
Today I’m studying mechanical engineering and it’s not because I think it will be necessary for my professional life but because tomorrow as a teacher I want to share my vision with as many young people as I can, and then learn my way into hacking the educational system for good.
At Flock the place where I work as a technologist we are hacking our way into the Advertising industry, where big bucks are spent in meaningless TV campaigns, and where a value proposition can be aded into a company’s investment that can really make a difference on the customer side.
Hacking can mean, making something better, faster, or stronger, but at school we are taught that hard work is the key element for success.
Why bother on working hard when you can get the best result when getting out of the standard path? What makes this mindset unique is being willing to break the status quo, defy, being fast, fix the broken things, and overall being willing to break a few rules.
In junior high or high school. I’ve listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it.
- “No, Ms. Smith, I didn’t show my work. I did it in my head…”
-“Damn kid. Probably copied it. They’re all alike.”
And it is because of systems designed for the average, systems designed by the greedy profiteering gluttons, that some people call them misfits, rebels, just underachievers or very often: criminals. You can either be Kanye or Parker hacking music, Banksy spreading a message in the streets, Assange or my personal favorite: Musk building an empire against fossil fuels…
You can also be just a kid in college like me, a designer, lawyer, a doctor but I invite you to always remember that everything around you is up being hacked, before you succeed: fail, fail, fail, and fail again you shall not fear to failure because failure itself is the quickest path to knowledge and never stop to question fucking everything because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do…
